What happens at the Academy
by AgentMaryMargaretSkitz
Summary: A series of drabbles about the adventures and shenanigans that our favorite senior agents got into while they were still cadets at the Academy. Action, laughs, and people just wanting to lock Coulson and May in a closet because how can they be this ignorant! Ideas for future chapters happily accepted via reviews or PMing me.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own Agents of SHIELD or Marvel. But I love it to death.**

**A lot of people have done little stories on Philinda in their Academy days, and I guess I've jumped ship onto them. Now, I know there is a likely chance a lot of this stuff would never happen, but just go with it. It's just a fun little series of drabbles where all our favorite senior agents are young and happy and (in some cases) not Hydra yet. I'm very excited about the first two chapters, which are going to revolve around the first day. Future chapters are going to provide the backstories behind some little details on the show with lots of familiar faces. (There will be a slight tie in to Tell Her How You Feel in one chapter)**

**[By the way, how about BJ Britt on the Age of Ultron set? I started running around fangirling when I heard about it! I love Agent Triplett a lot!]**

**Read and Review. I will happily accept prompts for future chapter ideas.**

* * *

Chapter 1: First day (Part 1)

"It's not too late you know. I can still get you-"

Melinda May rolled her eyes. "Drop it already, Mom. I'm not backing out of this."

Her mother gave a small huff and turned her attention back to the road ahead of them. Melinda relaxed and hoped they would arrive soon before her mother could try to persuade her not to go to the SHIELD Academy. Even though she could have easily taken a bus up there, her mother insisted that she drive her daughter to her new school, and Melinda knew why Mom wanted to do it. The closer they'd gotten, the more she'd brought it up, and Melinda was tired of hearing about it. She was her own person, she'd argued when her mother first found out that Peggy Carter had taken interest in her and helped her apply. She could, and would, make her own decisions. And her decision was SHIELD, whether or not Mom liked it.

Their car pulled up the checkpoint, where an agent checked their identification (staring up in surprise at her mother, who returned a cold look) and waved them through. Melinda gazed through the window at the buildings where she'd be learning and training to become an agent of SHIELD. Her mother gave a small grunt of approval. Hiding her face from her mother's wary eye, Melinda smirked upon the realization that her mother was jealous of the campus.

The thought was abruptly forgotten when the car swung sharply into a parking space and jerked to a stop. The two women got out the unload Melinda's bags from the back. Thankfully, there wasn't a whole lot of stuff since SHIELD did provide a good majority of the things she was going to need.

"Last chance, Melinda," her mother's voice sounded a little higher than normal. "You can still back out."

"No." Melinda said sternly, swinging around to face her mother. "I'm not going to let this opportunity go. I've worked really hard for this, and it's what I want to do. This is what I choose, Mom."

An odd noise came from the petite woman in front of her. Melinda frowned. Did her mother just sniffle?

"Mom?" She looked and saw that there were tears in Mom's eyes. Eyes that could give cold and piercing stares that had the ability to strip down all your defenses and leave you feeling weak and helpless were now misty and sad. "Mom, please don't cry."

"I'm not." Her mother said in an even voice. "It's just….my baby's all grown-up and going off and…"

Melinda took her mother's hands. "I'm going to be fine. I'll still get to see you, Mom. It's not forever."

"Mel Lilly." Her mother chuckled, and Melinda blushed when her mother used the nickname she'd given her as a toddler. "I know you're going to fine. If you ever have children someday, and they go off to somewhere dangerous, you'll understand how I feel right now. And you'll know how proud I am of you right now."

Then, to her surprise, Mom embraced her. Melinda was shocked. Strict, no-nonsense, no touchy-feely Agent May was giving her a hug. Cautiously, she hugged her back. "I'll miss you, Mama," she whispered.

"I'll miss you too." Her mother pulled back and smiled. "Now go out there and be the best agent in the whole damn place. You're all too capable, Melinda."

With one last hug, Melinda May picked up her bags and made her way towards the registration building alone. It was the compromise she'd made with her mother when she agreed to be driven down. The elder May watched her daughter go inside before getting back into her car. As she drove out, she allowed a few tears to fall down her hard face. Then she laughed and happily swore out Peggy Carter for roping her daughter into SHIELD.

* * *

The bus was moderately loud with chatter of its passengers. All the cadets on board were nervous and excited, even if some didn't show it. A good majority of them had traded stories of how they had found their way to the Academy and SHIELD. Some were even making cracks about their fellow passengers. Only one other person paid attention to the young man sitting in the window seat at the rear of the bus.

Phil Coulson stared out the window and sighed. His seatmate and friend, John Garrett, had happily accepted the aisle seat when Phil had offered it to him, and was currently entertaining the other people sitting nearby. John had instantly charmed their fellow classmates with his cocky nature and humor, and Phil envied the way he could instantly fit into a crowd as the center of attention. While he was much more easy-going than John, Phil was more shy and quiet around people he didn't know very well. That and he was kind of a dork who got embarrassed too easily.

Turning away from his more popular friend, Phil pulled out a small tin case from his pocket and opened it, smiling down at the saluting figure in patriotic colors. Ever since he was a little kid, he'd looked up to Captain America as his Howling Commandos. Phil smiled at fond memories of painting the lid of the old garbage can in the style of the famous shield and pretending to be the hero with his friends backing him up as the Commandos. The newest card on top had been a sort of going-to-an-academy-to-be-a-big-fancy-agent from his mother. It had surprised him a lot, since the cards were difficult to come by, and money had been tight since Dad died.

Phil carefully flipped through the deck until he reached one of the two photos he'd placed in there for safe-keeping. A lump formed in the back of his throat as he looked at the picture taken of him with his father. It had been on Halloween, a few months before Dad died. A grinning kid dressed up like Captain America, not yet scarred by a sad twist of fate, struck a pose while preparing to throw his garbage can shield while his father squatted next to him with a proud smile. _"Your father would have been so proud of you, going out there to do good for the world."_ Mom had told him yesterday.

"PHIL!"

He jumped a little when John shouted his name, startling him out of his reverie. Are you listening to me?"

Phil quickly put the cards back into the case, and then that into his pocket. John gave him a knowing grin when he saw the case. He had been in the same room as Phil when their S.O. had told them how closely Steve Rogers had affiliated to SHIELD. Phil had practically burst with excitement when he heard this, and kept asking Fury questions about his hero while John tried not to laugh too hard.

"Sorry," Phil apologized, feeling his face redden while the other cadets giggled. "What did you say?"

John simply pointed out the window, where a series of buildings behind a wall lay. "We're here."

Phil looked out of his window in awe. Other passengers were oohing and aahing at the campus the bus was approaching. "Nervous?"

His friend shrugged "You?"

"Hell yeah."

**Next up- roommates (You're going to love these people) and wrong schedules. And Phil being a dork. **

**Hope you guys liked this. Don't hesitate the slightest to give me ideas. I will gladly accept them! Mary Margaret out**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Hello my lovelies! Based on what I've seen, people are really excited about this. I am too, and I can't wait to see how you react to some later stories my muse has planned out. **_

**chills10124- **_**This story is kinda taking place before Garrett went down the twisted path to Hydra, so it's gonna be like before we found out how big of a scumbag he was. (May he rest in pieces) But I promise my dear readers that this chapter and many more will give you some wonderful Garrett moments.**_

_**Now, for the second part! Cute Philinda promised.**_

Chapter 2: First Day (Part 2)

Melinda dragged herself up the staircase to the third floor of the girl's dormitory, dodging the heavy flow of other students running around. Her lips quirked up into a smile as she thought about the pranks she could pull over them. During high school, she'd been responsible for some pretty epic ones that nobody (except possibly her mother) had ever been able to trace back to her. Now that she was in an environment where they were trained to look out for the unpredictable, it was time for Melinda to step up her game. No more kid stuff.

Melinda finally found her assigned dorm, and pushed her key that they'd given her at registration into 3G's doorknob. Unlocking the door, she stepped inside and took in her surroundings. A moderate living space with a couch, some armchairs, and a coffee table to her left, and three beds for her and her other two roommates on her right. One of whom had already arrived, and was sitting on the bed closest to her.

"Oh," exclaimed the girl, sliding off the bed and making her way toward Melinda. Her new roommate was about her height, with olive skin and black hair trailing down her back in a neat braid. "I'm so sorry. I-I didn't mean to take the bed. I just thought that since no one else had arrived, I'd claim it. If you want that one, then it's okay. I can move if you-"

Melinda held up her hands. "Whoa, it's fine," she assured the girl as she tossed her stuff by the bed next to the other girls, leaving the bed on the opposite wall that was nearby a large window overlooked the center of the grounds as the only one unoccupied. "I sort of wanted this one anyway."

The girl sighed, visibly relaxed. "My name's Linda," she said, sticking out her hand. "Linda Avery."

"Melinda May." She took the outstretched hand, happy she had chosen not to wear a buzzer on her hand. "Do you know who our third person is?"

"That's me." Someone said cheerily.

In the frame of the door, the owner of the voice was lugging in a trunk. Melinda and Linda came over and helped her bring it inside. As they did, Melinda took the opportunity to study their newest arrival. She was at least three inches taller than the two other girls, and had long brown hair that hung loosely over her shoulders. There was a mischievous glint that Melinda knew all too well in her eyes that the girl's glasses couldn't hide. Maybe she could get a partner (or partners, depending on how Linda went about this stuff) in crime for pranking.

"Thanks for saving me the window bunk," the girl says, sounding quite happy with her position in the room. Melinda and Linda continued to stare at her, not sure what to say. "Oh yeah, gotta introduce myself. Victoria hand, but everyone calls me Tori."

"Linda Avery and this is Melinda May."

Tori furrowed her brow. Melinda knew what she was thinking; she'd heard it to earlier. "Do you go by any nicknames, Melinda?" She shook her head. "Ok, then that makes our lives easier. Sorry that I'm a bit late. There was some mix-up at registration and I had to get my schedules and all that. Speaking of which, what have you guys got?"

Linda began to dig through her stuff, while Melinda pulled out the folder stamped with the SHIELD logo that was lying at the very top of her pile. She began to scan it, but stopped immediately. "Shit."

"What?" Linda asked as she looked up. "Something wrong?"

"I got the wrong person's schedule."

Tori gave her a sympathetic face. "Better go back to tell them that they screwed up," she said "Who would have thought even big organizations like this could screw up something like this."

Smiling and shaking her head, Melinda ran out the room and down the staircase, folder in hand. At least it was only the schedule they'd messed up. If she hadn't had the right anything, then she would be in a huge mess.

She was almost there when she collided into someone and hit the ground.

* * *

"Don't even THINK about doing anything with your socks while we're here." Phil threatened John as they opened their door. "I never want to wake up with them on my face ever again."

Despite the seriousness in Phil's voice, John Garret could not keep the smirk off his face. "It was one time, Phil. One time."

"One time too many."

"Oh come on, it was funny." Phil rolled his eyes and tried not to grin, a feat nearly impossible when you were around John.

"My face smelled like your foot for a week. It was disgusting."

A chuckle sounded from one of the beds in the dorm. On top of it sat a guy with dark hair looking up at them from his copy of _To Kill a Mockingbird_. He set down the book and stood up, making his way toward them. Up close, Phil could see that he was tall and gangly. A year or two older than himself. He also seemed a little shy, Phil thought, judging by the way he walked over to them hesistantly.

"Hope that doesn't happen to me." He joked, sticking out his hand. Phil stepped forward and took it.

"I'm Phil Coulson, and that's John Garrett." He pointed at the latter. "Watch out for his socks. Actually, watch out for anything that he has lying around near him. Trust me."

Their roommate gave them a half-smile, still slightly apprehensive. "Felix Blake."

"Nice to meet you-." A loud bout of laughter interrupted him.

"Phil," John was wheezing slightly. "They…gave you…a girl's schedule."

Frowning, Phil snatched his papers out of his friend's hand and looked at it. His face flamed red with embarrassment and he hoped Felix was not making any judgments. They really did give him the wrong schedule, probably due to some mix up at registration. There was probably some poor girl out there worrying about where on earth her schedule was. He needed to go back and return this so he could get the right one.

"I'll be right back," Phil muttered, turning around and almost smacking his face against the door in the process of opening it. "Keep John out of my stuff," he called to Felix as he sprinted down the hallway.

_"Where is it, where is it," _Phil kept looking around as he ran, miraculously avoiding running into people as he went. Wait, was that i-

He looked back, and missed the other person coming his way until the breath got knocked out his body by the impact.

* * *

"Umph"

"Ouch"

Melinda fell on her back hard, and groaned. Scrambling to a sort of kneeling position, she began to grab for all her papers, which had scattered every which way when she fell. Nearby one of them was a small time case with Captain America's shield painted on it. Curious, Melinda reached for it.

Phil's hand touched the case at the same time as a slender hand did. His eyes traveled up the sleeve of the owner's blue jacket, and stopped at her face. It was a girl, Chinese, around his age. She had pretty brown eyes, tanned skin, and smooth black hair that barely went past her shoulders. Phil had to remind himself to both breathe and not creepily stare at this gorgeous girl, who just happened to be holding out his case of Captain America cards to him.

The boy facing her with a slightly dazed expression on his face was very handsome. Melinda had to call on some of the training her mother had given her to keep from blushing too much. His brown hair was slightly stuck up and ruffled from their collision, but it only made him look cuter. It was his eyes that drew her in the most though. Aside from the slightly timid look they possessed, they were the kinds of eyes that could look straight through your soul, through all your defenses and armor, and see the real you. "Uhhh," she mumbled, looking down at the case. "Yours?"

"_She just spoke to me!"_ Phil's mind raced to come up with an intelligent response.

"Yeah, thanks," he said as he took the case from the goddess in front of him. "They're my….Captain America cards. I collect them." _"Way to put out the dumb nerd impression, Phil."_

But the girl didn't even look remotely disturbed at him as they helped each other off the ground. Now that they were standing up, Phil could see they were about the same height. "What's your name?" she asked once they were both on their feet.

"Phil. Phil Coulson. Well, my real name's Phillip. So I guess it's really Phillip Coulson, but I-I just prefer Phil. Yeah, Phil." _Shit._

He looked a little flustered now, Melinda thought to herself. She felt a little bad for him. He seemed really shy, but also really nice. The name sounded really familiar though, and she looked down at her incorrect schedule and smiled. "Really," she exclaimed happily, handing Phil the paper. "I've actually got your schedule. They gave it to me on accident."

Phil let out an enormous sigh as he took the paper, and seemed relax for the first time since they'd crashed into each other. "Thank you," said Phil, smiling back at her. "I've been a little bit worried since they gave me the wrong schedule too. You don't happen to know a Melinda Qiaolian May, do you?"

Melinda couldn't prevent herself from giggling. Phil was a sweetheart. He was goofy, but still such a sweetheart. "That's me, actually," she said as she took her real schedule from his outstretched hand. "Thanks. I guess it's lucky we ran into each other, Phil." _God his name felt so right to say._

Phil could not believe his luck. He had run down a girl who had his schedule, talked about Captain America, and fumbled over his own name, yet she was still talking with him. He would probably never get over how big a doofus he'd been around Melinda, but now he knew someone else her besides his roommates. "I'll see you around….Melinda."

"You too….Phil."

With that, the two cadets went their separate ways. Unbeknownst to the other, each looked back at the person they had run into more than once. Phil almost tripped over a bench one of those times. Neither of them knew of the adventures that were going to come for them and their roommates in the near future. The two also felt a spark ignite inside themselves upon meeting each other. It was a spark that many would see, and work to build it into a great inferno.

**Next up- Melinda, Tori, and Linda meet up in class with Phil. John, and Felix. And everyone learns a lesson on underestimation. **

_**Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as much as I did! If you have any prompts or ideas, send them in. I'll dedicate the chapter to you if I use the idea. MMS out.**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Yeah, so a wonderful little imp called Writer's block decided to take up shack in my head. I'm still working on getting rid of him because he's a total pain. On the kinda-good side though, he did give me the idea for **__**Nightmares**__**, but that turned into a roller-coaster for my emotions to write it out and then it induced another idea that I know is gonna feel like I'm stabbing people in the heart. However, I promise happiness for a while with this.**_

_**A lot of you love the relationship between Garrett and Coulson. I can't even begin to tell you how much fun it is to write for those two. There are some pretty golden ones in this chapter. The only downer in it is knowing what Garrett became, which was a shame because I really liked him.**_

_IronKat__**- They all are at an Operations Academy. However, there is a Science branch nearby. The crew is going to make a visit to their campus later on at least once for a bit of revenge for something.**_

_**This chapter ties in a little with**__** Tell her how you feel**__**. If you've read it already, then you can guess what happens.**_

_**Oh, and let's just say Fury isn't Director yet.**_

* * *

Chapter 3: Underestimation

The gym was packed with cadets in workout gear, all eager to begin their first official hand-to-hand combat class. Most of them had drifted into groups on the bleachers with their roommates that were in the class, but a few stranglers sat here and there. Luckily for Phil Coulson, both John and Felix were in his class. In the past few days, he and John had gotten to know Felix a lot better and he was a lot more comfortable around them. Felix was quiet at first, but he'd opened up more and seemed like a decent guy. Plus, he knew some new jokes that were pretty amusing and occasionally dirty, but still had him and John on the floor.

Neither of his roommates knew about his meeting with Melinda May that had happened two days ago. When he got back, Phil had told them that someone else had already dropped it off at registration and he just had to return his so they could call the girl. But he hadn't been able to stop thinking about it. He'd hoped to catch a glimpse of her yesterday during Orientation, but she hadn't been in his group. Maybe she'd be in his class.

"Hey, do you mind if my friends and I sit here?" someone behind him asked.

Phil turned around. "Sure it's- Melinda!" he yelped as he recognized the girl.

"Phil!" she said, startled. "Wow, I didn't know you were going to be here." Her heart was beating faster in her chest. _Keep it together, Mel._ She smiled at him, happy to have found another friend.

"Hey, you going to introduce us to your friend, Phil," asked John as he and Felix came up on either side of him. Melinda's friends grinned a little as he turned beet-red.

"You said you didn't know anyone else here besides us!" whispered Tori. "How the hell do you know him?"

"Tell you later." Melinda said through her friend. She also hadn't told Linda and Tori about running into Phil. If she had, they would have asked for details, and she really didn't want to talk about it in fear of letting her little crush slip out. Linda had told them already that she had a boyfriend back at home that she was trying to work long-distance with, and Tori had roped her into interrogating her about him. Linda might have been okay with it, but she wasn't.

"Yeah, Tori, Linda, this is Phil Coulson. I, erm, ran into him the other day. Phil, this is Linda Avery and Victoria Hand. They're my roommates."

Phil smiled and shook hands with them. "Nice to meet you. Guys, this is Melinda May and her roommates." He said as John and Felix stepped forward. "Melinda, this is Felix Blake." Felix gave one of his small half smiles. "And that's John Garrett. John and I have the same S.O., but he sent us here to get more training in."

John stepped forward and shook Linda and Tori's hands. "Victoria," he mused as he shook her hand. "Does that mean I can call you Vicky?"

Tori smiled sweetly at him before leaning in close. "If you _ever _call me that again, I will punch out your front teeth. Which would be a shame since you have such a nice smile," she said, still smiling. "It's Tori."

Before John could say anything else, a tall beefy agent came into the room. Linda gulped nervously when she saw him. His eyes were two chips of granite that scanned the room meticulously. "Cadets," he snapped, making everyone jump a little bit. "I am Agent Orson, your hand-to-hand combat instructor."

"You a specialist in that?" John teased Tori.

She rolled her eyes and cracked a smile. "Tell me, are you always this much of an asshole, or is it just around girls?"

"I am in charge of making sure you can defend yourselves if you ever make it out into the field," Orson continued. "They give you kids guns and gadgets the little lab monkeys make over at Sci-Tech, but what do you do when you're out of bullets and still have enemies coming. I'm here to teach you how to get out while inflicting maximum damage."

"The rules in this class are simple. Follow my instructions. When I say stop, you stop. You do not throw a punch after I finish speaking. You separate from your partner or the punching bag or whatever the hell you're working with and look at me. There is no sparring allowed unless myself or another agent is present. People have died here before, and it would be preferable if that didn't happen. SHIELD can use every good agent it can get."

"Blake, May!"

"Yessir." The two chorused as they stood up. "_Damn, she's cute,"_ Felix thought as he looked over at her. Phil was a lucky guy, knowing a knock-out like her.

"Up on the mats." Orson pointed at one of the many mats laid out on the floor surrounding a boxing ring in the center of the room. "I'd like to see how much you all know first," he said to the other cadets as Melinda and Felix stepped up. "We're going to be having a little spar-off. Don't be shy about it. You won't be able to hide it in the field."

"Do you think he'll bet Melinda?" Linda said quietly to Tori. The Felix guy was at least a foot taller than their roommate. Tori shrugged, feeling unsure about Melinda's chances. She seemed too small to be able to do too much damage. Plus, did she even have combat experience?

"Is he really going to punch her?" John asked Phil. Felix seemed to be a gentleman like Phil. There was no way he would go all out on her.

Phil observed the scene in front of him, analyzing all the factors. He noticed how Melinda was currently holding a defensive stance. Clearly, she knew something. A lot of people were counting her size as a disadvantage, but Melinda could easily move out of the way quicker and be harder to hit. It could go anyway. "You never know."

A smirk twisted across John's face. "You think she's going to kick his ass, don't you."

"Yep."

A whistle sounded, and Felix and Melinda began to circle each other. "_You can do this."_ Felix told himself. "_She's smaller than you. You've trained in this stuff before. And she's just a girl. Yeah, you can do this._" He stepped forward a little, hoping she would forgive him later.

What happened next surprised everyone. Melinda sensed his movement, and sprung forward on her hands. Remembering her mother's training that she had given her long ago, she wrapped her legs around his waist and twisted hard downward. Less than two seconds had passed since he first moved, and Felix Blake was already the ground, panting.

Felix was shocked at how quickly it had ended. Groaning, he blinked a few times and looked up. Melinda had a playful smirk on her face. Mother of God, she really was a knockout, and he was in love with her.

In the bleachers, the rest of the class was staring at the spectacle in various states of shock. Most of them were just staring in shock. A few of them were whispering quietly. One group, who was there to monitor as TAs, were having a deep conversation. Even Agent Orson's mouth was hanging open.

"That's our girl." Tori said as she and Linda gleefully observed the scene.

Phil was staring in amazement. The girl he was in love with was incredibly skilled. And gorgeous. And she was really nice.

"Holy. Shit." John said, turning around. "Phil, did you see-Phil, pick up your jaw."

Melinda noticed everyone staring at her. _Never underestimate your opponent_. Her mother had always told her that when she was growing up and getting into fights with other kids in the neighborhood. It had been a lesson that she still valued today. You never knew what a person could be capable of. She looked out and shrugged.

"Anyone else?"

* * *

"So how does it feel getting beat up by a girl?" John asked Felix as they looked for a table in the cafeteria with Phil.

Felix shot him a dirty look. "At least I didn't get a black eye." John's opponent had been older than him by four years, and even though John did get some punches in, he still took a meaty fist straight to the eye.

"Okay, we get it. You got a black eye, _Johanna_." Phil joked, as he stood on his tiptoes to look for a seat in the crowded room.

"Thank you,_ Phyllis_." John rolled his eyes and grinning. The two had started the stupid thing in when they first training. If one of them ever complained too much or got too hesitant, then the other called them by a feminine version of their name. It worked as kind of a push to get the other to man up, but now it was just a joke between them.

"Hey, Phil! John! Felix!"

The three turned toward the sound of the voice. Melinda May was standing up, waving her arm. They made their way over and saw her, Tori, and Linda sitting at a table. A table with three extra seats. "Can we…" Phil asked quietly, not sure if she was saving them for someone else.

"Yeah," Tori answered. "Do you think we would have called you over if you couldn't?"

"Thanks," They pulled out their chairs and sat down. Phil sat down next to Melinda, and she smiled.

For a few minutes, the only sounds at the table are the scraping of the plastic silverware. Then Tori sets down her water bottle hard. "Okay, so how the hell did you two meet?"

By the end of lunch, they're all laughing, and a friendship has been born between the six of them.

* * *

"Hey, you May?"

Melinda turns as she throws her trash away. Standing nearby are the three cadets who were TAs in Agent Orson's class. "Yeah." She's hesitant, not sure whether or not she's about to get initiated in some horrible way.

The tallest one, a guy with dark brown skin, steps forward. "That show in Orson's was something today," he says. He's from New England, she can tell by his drawl.

"Thank you."

"And it's because of that performance that we'd like to invite you to the Underground."

_**What is the Underground? I'll never tell. (Laughs evilly) Yet.**_

_**The Underground is going to be very important to this story. I promise a few chapters of it, as well as a few cliffies that might drive you nuts waiting for more. **_

_**Unless I get any ideas or one of you wonderful readers sends me a prompt, (and I'd really love it if I got some more!) the next chapter is probably going to talk about the Underground. **_


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm baaaack! Sorry for another long wait, but since I didn't want to tell you guys about the Underground yet, the imp came back and drove me nuts. However, I was saved by **_**felixblakes **_**on Tumblr, who posted something about Coulson and Blake being buddies at the Academy and getting into funny stuff together. [I started seeing weird parallels between Phil & John and Steve & Bucky recently. Ahhh!] It was through them that I was able to think of this little chapter. I like writing these two together because in my head, they're both kind of dorks. So if you are **_**felixblakes**_** and are reading this, thanks!**

**This was the best thing I could think of them doing together. I loved writing this a lot, and the ending was so hard to write because I was giggling so much. Unfortunately, I had to put my draft away many times since I was writing the end in a public place and would have disturbed the silence with my giggling. **

**There is going to be a Halloween chapter coming up. I would love suggestions for costumes for Melinda, Felix, Phil, John, Linda, and Tori. I am open to anything, but try to suggest something other than Captain America for Phil so I can get a better range of options.**

**Read and review please! I would love ideas to go off of in the future so I can prevent another dry-up.**

* * *

Chapter 4: Toothpaste and Towels

A strong bond had been formed between Melinda, Tori, Linda, Phil, John, and Felix after the girls invited the boys to sit with them during lunch. They began to group together more often during classes, and usually partnered up with each other in some way. Where ever there was one member of the group, there was sure to be at least one other person nearby who was also a part of it. Friendships with other cadets were formed too, but the six were all closest to each other and did many things together. However, there were some incidents that were experienced by some and kept from the rest.

"You want to do what?!" Felix asked, looking up at John from _The Grapes of Wrath_. John and Phil had quickly learned that Felix had a strong appreciation for classics, and enjoyed _Grapes _quite a bit.

"We should pull a gag," repeated John. He was lounging against the back of his, bouncing a rubber ball so it hit the edge of his desk and rebounding back into his waiting hand. "I don't want to be one of those freshmen cadets who gets pranked mercilessly and does nothing in return."

"We can do that when we aren't freshmen anymore too," Phil muttered from his bed as he flipped through his Captain America cards.

"Still, I want to do something. It'd be fun." John bounced the ball and almost missed catching it.

"What do you suggest? And stop bouncing that ball before you hit one of us or something else!" Phil huffed in annoyance as the ball sailed higher than it had the previous time.

John rolled his eyes and kept bouncing. "I'm not going to hit you Phyllis."

"That's what you say now."

John threw the ball and turned to Phil. "I happen to have spectacular aim, Phil, and I will not-OW!"

John has misjudged his aim, and the ball ended up rebounding not into his outstretched hand, but in the middle of his face. Horrible pain suddenly shot through his nasal area. His hand cupped over his nose and he gritted his teeth. Damn, that ball could hurt.

Phil looked at him and started to laugh. Felix looked up him and snickered a little. "It's not funny, dammit it hurts!" he protested, and Phil looked up at him with moist eyes. He tried to say something, but ended up sputtering back into laughter. Felix was still chuckling, but then he looked back up at him. The smile slid off his face and he raised a finger, pointing to John's cupped hand. Removing it from his face, he could see blood covered a good portion of it, and had leaked through his fingers.

"Felix," Phil wheezed, not noticing the blood. "Why aren't you laughing? It-It was- oh."

He saw John standing there, his nose covered in red and still oozing it out. "Oh, man. You need to go to the infirmary."

"I'm going to have a hella excuse for them there," the injured cadet grumbled as he left the room, holding a couple tissues over his nose.

"It's a pity he had to fall for his own stupidity," sighed Phil, wiping his eyes as the door slammed shut. Felix nodded in agreement, and silence followed for a few minutes.

"Remind me the pranks we've had pulled on us again?" Felix said, looking up from his book.

Phil pursed his lips. "Okay, we've had worms in our socks that we left in the locker room that one day, courtesy of that senior who gave John the black eye. Then there was the one where someone sewed the legs on my pants shut. I don't care what John says, that wasn't funny at all. There was one other one…I can't put my finger on it at the moment, but I know it happened to you."

"Someone replaced my shampoo with some really nasty floral smelling girl's shampoo," Felix said with a shudder. "Whoever did it was good too. They somehow managed to fill it up to the exact weight. But that scent was the worst."

"I thought you smelled lovely," teased Phil.

Felix smiled. "Ha ha, cute. But John's got a point. We shouldn't just sit back and let the upperclassmen have the upper hand all the time."

"Are you suggesting that we prank the upperclassmen?" Phil sat up and looked at his friend. For a shy, kinda quiet guy, Felix Blake had a devious mind.

"Are you game for it?" Felix shut his book and waited for Phil's reply.

"This could be dangerous," Phil looked down at his cards, shuffling them nervously. "I mean, what if they strike back at us?"

"Not if they don't know who did it," Felix answered calmly. He liked Phil, and really hoped he would go along with the prank. The guy had a personality similar to his own, plus he was pretty resourceful, which could be useful in a quick getaway. "We're just two freshmen, who would ever suspect us?"

Phil looked back up, a sly grin now on his face. "I'm in," he said, sticking out his hand. Felix shook it. "So do we tell John about it, or maybe the girls?"

Felix shook his head. "Nah, let them wonder with everybody else."

Phil chuckled, and leaned back. "So, Mista' Blake," he drawled in a Southern accent. "Do ya have a plan for our sensational revenge?"

"Reckon I do." Felix switched back to his normal voice. "So what about this…"

* * *

John had not returned from the infirmary by nighttime, since he had told Phil that the doctor wanted to keep him there overnight for observation out of concern for a concussion. Phil had visited him with a while Felix went out to go collect supplies for their grand plan. They had the devious idea of coating all the seats and handles of the toilets in both the girls and boys dormitories with one of the most interesting things that could be put on a toilet-toothpaste. They had originally planned to just do the dormitories inhabited by the male cadets, but added the ladies' ones since a senior girl had been responsible for Felix's scented shampoo. They were to let no one see them, or leave any evidence of their presence (save for the toothpaste) behind.

At midnight, they slipped out of their room and targeted their bathrooms first. They moved quickly and efficiently, running into absolutely no trouble at all. Once the toilets were coated with a healthy layer of toothpaste, they left their building and snuck into the bathrooms of the other dormitories to give them the added surprise to whomever visited them in the morning. Now, they stood in front of the last girls' dormitory and final one to complete their wicked deed. Felix agreed to work his way up the first two floors, and Phil would work down from the fourth floor.

* * *

Things were going smoothly until Phil hit the third floor.

Even though he'd already done the fourth floor and was almost finished with the second, he still could not figure out where the hell the bathrooms were located. There were three on each floor, he knew that much, but finding where they were was harder, especially when you were sneaking around at night trying not to get caught. Now, he had one more toilet to coat, but there were two possible options of where the last bathroom was. He grabbed the handle of one and opened it, praying that he had made the right choice.

Unfortunately, he'd only succeeded in finding the showers. Worse, he could hear water running and someone singing. "_They weren't too bad either,"_ he thought to himself as he stepped forward, drawn to the beautiful melody.

The door creaked loudly as it closed, and the singing stopped. A minute later, the water shut off. Phil pressed himself against a wall away from the curtains as a hand reached out, blindly groping about.

"I know you're here," a voice muffled by the steam called out. "I could hear you."

"_I'm going to get fucking busted in the girls' showers."_ Phil thought as he tried to calm himself down._ "What the hell is Fury going to say? Or the girls…oh God, Melinda will never look at me again."_

"Hey, could you at least hand me my towel?" The mystery girl asked. "I'm not getting out, I just have soap in my eyes, and the water isn't washing it out."

Phil noticed a pale yellow towel inches away from the hand. He passed it to the owner.

"Thank you!" The towel was snatched up by the owner, and then thrown out a moment later. The water turned on again, and Phil began to back out to the door. Once he was out, he dashed off to the correct bathroom, applied the toothpaste, and hurried out of the dormitory as fast as he could; praising whatever magical power had saved him from ultimate shame and embarrassment.

* * *

Felix was standing under one of the tree nearby the final dorm. He had finished ten minutes ago, and Phil still hadn't shown up. Sure, he usually got finished before Phil, but his friend wasn't that slow. Had something happened? Had he been caught? Felix felt his stomach twist in knots as he worried over all the possibilities. Phil and John were like brothers to him, he couldn't bear to see one of them get in trouble if it came to it.

Then he saw a figure walking toward him, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it was his partner-in-crime. Felix looked at him and smiled. Phil returned the smile hesitantly, and the two began to walk back to their own dorm. "Did everything go alright?" asked Felix.

"Yeah, yeah it went…fine," Phil was shaking a little, and his skin looked pale under the lamplights bordering their path. "There was one thing though…"

"What was it?" Felix stopped in his tracks for a second before walking forward again. Had Phil forgotten something? The last thing he wanted to do right now was return to the last dorm. Sneaking into it once was okay, but twice was risky.

Phil looked down at his feet. "I might have accidently gone into the shower room on the third floor. Someone was in there. A girl," he added.

"Of course there would be a girl in there, Phil! It's the freaking girls' dormitory."

"I know that," Phil reddened and shoved his hands into his all the things that could have gone wrong, this was the one Felix had least expected. "Did she know you were there?"

Phil nodded.

"Did she see you?"

Phil shook his head, then began to laugh. "She asked me to pass her towel in to her," he giggled as they went inside of their building.

"Did you?" Felix had to keep his hand clapped over his mouth as they neared their door to not wake up any of their neighbors.

Phil grinned slyly. "Yep." He confirmed, as they walked into their room.

As soon as the door was shut, the two burst into fits of laughter. "Oh, you got so lucky," choked Felix as he flopped on his bed. "We got so lucky tonight."

"We better get some rest in though," laughed Phil as he unloaded the empty tubes of toothpaste from his bag into the garbage. "I think we're going to get an early wake-up call in the morning."

* * *

"So I heard I missed the fun this morning," John grumbled as he walked over to the table with Felix and Phil. While he didn't have a concussion (he didn't even know why the nurse there thought that. She was a bit of a ditz though), he was now sporting a white bandage across the black and blue skin of his nose. "You two want to tell me what I missed?"

Phil and Felix grinned at each other behind his back. Poor John was completely in the dark that they had decided to have fun without him. Phil felt a little bad that they hadn't included him in the prank, but at the same time Felix was the perfect companion to work with, and he had a spectacular poker face.

"We got a colorful wake-up call this morning," Felix explained as he sat down. "You know that guy Riley? The senior who TA's in Orson's." John nodded. "Well, he went down to one of the bathrooms at six thirty to use the can. We knew it was this time because we woke up to hearing him screaming and swearing at the top of his lungs. Phil and I, along with probably everyone on the floor, ran to the bathroom where it was coming from. Riley's standing in front of the toilet, pants down, rear _covered_ in toothpaste. Every bathroom in the building, in all of the guys' buildings, had the toilets slathered with it."

John erupted with laughter. "How could I have missed this?" he groaned.

"If you stopped hurting yourself, then that would be a start," Phil snickered. "But it was the funniest thing ever. Riley's mouth is like a rainbow, John. I learned about five new choice words in two different languages."

"Will you tell me them sometime?"

"Of course."

John smiled. "Thanks, Phil."

Phil shrugged nonchalantly. "Don't thank me, thank the prankster. And thank Riley and his need to take a dump at six thirty."

"What about Riley and his shit schedule?" Tori came up behind them, and sat down beside John. Linda and Melinda sat down, curious expressions on their faces. "And what the hell happened to your face, John. Did you piss off someone yesterday?"

"I got hit in the face with a rubber ball, and spent the night in the infirmary" John said as the girls began to laugh. "And missed the fun this morning with Riley getting a toothpaste treatment on his ass."

"Oh you guys got it too," Linda asked, eyes widening. "All the girls' dorms had the toilets covered in toothpaste. Did the same thing happen with all of the guys?"

"Yeah," Phil smiled. "Do they know who's responsible?"

All of the girls shook their heads. "Whoever did was a genius though." Tori muttered as she twirled a strand of her hair. "That's pretty awesome."

"Yeah," Melinda agreed. "I was actually in one of the rooms when the person came in."

Five sets of eyes suddenly focused on her. Felix glanced at Phil nervously. Phil set down his sandwich, feeling a sudden loss in his appetite. "Y-you were?" he stuttered, staring at her. _Oh God, please no, please no._

"What the hell, Mel!" Tori shrieked at her friend, who was now smirking triumphantly at the group. "You didn't tell me this earlier! What happened? How were you there? Did you see them?"

"I was in the showers at one-"

"Why were you in the showers at one?" Felix asked harshly. Phil gave him a swift kick under the table, shaking his head.

Melinda cocked her head to the side. "I wasn't feeling great, and I thought a shower would open me up a little," she explained. "Anyway, I'm in there, and then I hear the door open. Of course, I happen to get soap in my eyes at the same time, and I just can't wash it out. So I turned off the water and tried to find my towel, but I can't. That's when I heard someone breathing really heavily. I told them I knew they were there, and they didn't say anything."

"Then what happened?" Linda asked, leaning forward.

"I asked them to hand me my towel so I could get the damn soap out of my eyes."

The entire table burst into laughter. "Did they…" Tori wheezed. Melinda nodded, and Tori laughed even harder. "Oh my God, Melinda. You are amazing."

"So you didn't see them?" Felix questioned, hoping to relax again.

Melinda shook her head. "I wish though. I would have liked to help out with that prank. It wasn't half-bad."

The group continued to chuckle for a while longer. Phil looked up at Felix, and shook his head. Both of them let out a sigh of relief at their luck. From this moment on, they would always remember the time they pulled their first prank together as the time Phil had handed a towel to an unsuspecting Melinda.

* * *

**Hee hee. Bet you guys were a bit surprised there! (Or not, I don't know)**

**Anyway, next chapter might be about the Underground, and we'll get to see a lot of stuff from the girls in it. **

**I would luvvv prompts. If you have any, tell me them!**


	5. Chapter 5

**I have returned! Once again, I apologize for a lack of updates sooner, but I only finished writing this out. Plus, a few nights ago there were all those awesome photos of most of the cast at the Guardians of the Galaxy premiere, and there was a bit (okay, a lot) of fangirling going on. And then they gave us that gag-reel, which I will never stop giggling about. It just made me love everybody more! **

**Anyway, this is a chapter for Melinda, Linda, and Tori (who resembles Darcy Lewis in my mind). I have a lot of scenarios in the future for them to get involved in. You'll learn what the Underground is in this, and you can all thank Simmons's comment regarding the Boiler Room in 'Seeds' for it. The original plan was this to be the meeting place of Phil and Melinda, but it was scraped and replaced with the mixed up schedules. There is a bit of swearing in this chapter, but I hope you enjoy it!**

**Also, probably should say this now because I didn't in the beginning. This story takes place around 1983-1984 ish. Anyone know anything about hair dye during that period?**

Chapter 5: The First Fight

"_So this isn't a joke." Melinda stared up at Riley; the TA in Orson's who had just told her of the Underground's purpose._

_He shook his head. "I'm dead serious. Are you in?"_

_A smile bloomed on the young woman's face. "I'm in."_

* * *

Melinda May had felt perfectly fine the night that the mysterious prankster had accidently walked into her shower and handed her towel to her. Both Tori and Linda were well aware of that, and they understood why she had to lie to the rest of their friends. But it was only Felix, John, and Phil who knew that she had been present in the showers at the time. They all agreed not to tell anyone else in order to keep the questions regarding her reasons for being in the shower at a minimum. People were desperate for any information regarding the identity of the prankster, and she didn't want to be thrust into the spotlight.

The entire campus was interested in finding out who was responsible for the toothpaste prank, particularly those who had fallen victim to it before everyone else was informed. It was completely impossible to determine the gender or grade since everyone had gotten hit, and what kind of crazy person would prank their own class? Eventually, most of the Operations cadets had decided to cast the blame upon the nearby Sci-Tech Academy. There was a strong rivalry between the two, and it seemed to be the most logical explanation. The Sci-Tech students insisted that they were innocent, but almost nobody believed them.

* * *

"It's a stupid idea, Tori."

"No, it isn't," Tori hissed in the darkness as the three roommates crept through the darkness to the weekly Underground session. Melinda had managed to persuade Riley to allow her to take along Tori and Linda when she went. He had graciously allowed it once he learned that one of her roommates was Tori Hand, who had once challenged him over something involving seniority claims. Linda had been approved too, since she could take a secret to the grave if it mattered that much. (One day, many years later, she would.)

""Honestly, it's a waste of space, and what is the purpose of it?" Linda pointed in the dim light of the moon to the water pistol Tori held. "What the heck are you even going to use it for?"

"Well, if some teacher or agent spots and tries to catch us, then I can shoot 'em in the eye with it." Tori's glasses flashed a bit of light as she turned toward Linda. "Then we can make a quick getaway."

"I still think that's its stupid," grumbled Linda. "Why don't you just keep it in your backpack?"

Tori clutched the straps of the pack she had brought tightly. "Absolutely not!" She cried out in horror.

"Hush," Melinda whispered at them as they approached the old, abandoned building where the Underground was held. During the day, it sat there empty between the dorms and buildings where classes were held. The only reason it hadn't been torn down, Riley had told her on her first night, was because the Academy liked to use it for students to practice ops in or for graduation exams. They thought it always sat there empty, but life came into it during one night of the week. The first floor and basement of the building bustled with action.

The Underground was sort of a cross between a club and fight arena. If you showed prowess in some form of combat, like Melinda had on her first day in her combat class, then you could be invited in. Once a week, the members would congregate, be paired up, and spar. Sometimes, people came to watch. There was always someone on duty to referee, and grudge matches were forbidden. Serious injury was to be avoided at all cost to prevent the discovery of the secret ring. If it was, then the consequences for those who played a role in it would be severe.

Flanked by her best friends, Melinda walked up to the door and knocked three times, paused, and knocked twice. "Password?" a voice asked as the door cracked open.

Melinda rolled her eyes and tried hard not to smile. "The poodle did a doodle in my noodles." Riley was in charge of creating passwords to let people in that were changed once a month. Usually, they were incredibly ridiculous and goofy.

"Should have been Toothpaste Ass," Tori muttered under her breath as they were let inside to the dimly lit building.

They walked down the steps to the basement, where there were more lights since it was underground. At the bottom of the stairs, Riley was lounging against a desk that a girl with blond hair sat behind. There were distant noises of punches being thrown and grunts coming from the rooms down the hall. Melinda took a deep breath to relax and keep calm. She would always get nervous before a fight, even if she had been coming here for over a month.

"May," Riley greeted, nodding at her. "How are you doing?"

_Relax. Breathe_. Melinda smiled at him. "Fine," she said quietly. "Who am I up against tonight?"

Riley looked at the cadet behind the desk. The girl jumped up and smiled sweetly. "She's with Connolly tonight. He's waiting in the third room to your right." The blonde pointed down the hall.

"Thanks," Melinda walked down to the room with Linda, while Tori skipped ahead and peeked in the door. Her pale face went even whiter "Oh."

Melinda and Linda hurried to her side and looked in the room. The referee, a twenty-year old guy named Sanchez, was leaning against a wall. On the mat, a senior cadet with a foot and a half and fifty pounds over her stood with his arms crossed.

Linda swallowed. "You can do this, Melinda."

Melinda closed her eyes and stepped into the room.

* * *

_1979_

_ Melinda May stood at the corner bus stop, arms crossed. She was anxious for the bus to come soon since she didn't like to hang around school for a long time, especially on days when she pulled pranks. Today had borne witness to one of her more spectacular ones that involved the school's water supply and bubble bath mixture. The students had had a good laugh from it, but the principal of the high school had been furious and threatened to find and expel the perpetrator. If she was caught, then her mother actually might make good on the promise to send her to military school. As much as she loved her mother, Melinda didn't want to go into the CIA like her, or any other government organizations for that matter._

"_Come on, give it back!"_

_Melinda turned toward the noise. Down the block on a playground was a little girl who couldn't be older than seven hopping about. Standing over her were three boys that she recognized from school. They were freshmen who were on the path to nowhere, and they acted like they owned everyone younger than them. Her mouth tightened as the leader pushed the girl to the ground as she tried to reach up for a Barbie doll that they had most likely taken from her. _

"_Please," the kid sniffled. "Give me back my doll."_

_The jerks laughed, and Melinda began to make her way over to them. "Why would we do that?" One of them teased as he held it out of reach again._

"_Because," Melinda said as she came up beside the girl. "She asked nicely, and she didn't do anything. Now give her the doll back."_

_The three looked at each other before bursting into laughter. Her hands clenched into fists._

"_Who's going to make us?" the leader, a guy with a stupid Mohawk, asked. "Not you, that's certain. I don't take orders from princesses with-"_

_His insults were cut off by Melinda's fist making contact with his face. He crumpled to the ground clutching his face. The doll fell to the ground. Melinda snatched it up and tossed it to the girl. "Run!" she shouted at the wide-eyed child. The girl scampered off as a blow in the chest doubled Melinda over onto the ground._

"_Little bitch." One of the others said as he shoved his boot in her face. Melinda moved her head out of the way in time, but still suffered a glancing blow to her cheek. Her hand flew up to the afflicted area and came away spotted with red. When Goon 1 prepared to kick her again, she grabbed his foot and pulled upward. He hit the ground hard, groaning._

_Goon 2 tried grabbing her around the throat, but Melinda remembered her mother making her learn self-defense and grabbed his hands. She slammed her elbows back into his stomach, and slipped out of the loosened grip. Once free, she performed a swift uppercut that sent him stumbling back onto his bottom. He looked up at her before scrambling to his feet and running off. Goon 1 wasn't far behind him, but the leader of them…_

_She cried out in pain as her shoulder hit the ground._

* * *

Connolly was nothing like she'd ever faced before. Melinda ended up on the mat more times than she could count and took a time-out for the first time ever. Tori and Linda had given her water and a pep talk during that period, but it wasn't working. Melinda was considering the probability that she might actually have to take a loss for once during this.

She misjudged her aim again, and Connolly sidestepped her movement and sent her reeling backwards with a blow of his own. Her shoulder hit the mat hard. She remembered the fight she had gotten into four years ago where she dislocated her shoulder. The fight that could have left the police discovering her body on the street. The fight where she had met Peggy Carter.

Melinda picked herself off the ground, remembering how she had been saved. When Connolly came at her again, she was ready. She waited until the last minute to duck out of the way, then used his momentum against him by jabbing him in the rib cage. He was sent down in a spin onto the ground, where he laid, exhausted by all his previous efforts. His hand went in the air and made a circular motion, indicating that he was done.

Melinda smiled

* * *

"_Eat the ground, bitch," Mohawk said as he shoved her head down when she tried to pick herself up. "You can never be on top."_

"_Go to hell," she snarled as she pulled herself up, wincing at the pain in her shoulder. Something didn't feel right there. Still, Melinda slapped him hard across the face. When he turned to face her, there were four spots of blood where her nails had pierced his skin. There was more blood on trickling from his nose. His eyes were full of anger and hate. Melinda could almost feel it radiate off of him as he grabbed her and threw her against the brick wall of a building. Her shoulder screamed with pain._

_Mohawk stood over her and reached his hand into his jacket. Melinda's eyes widened at the sight of the gun in his hand. How the hell did he even have it on him? _

"_This ain't a peashooter, sweetheart," He spat out a mouthful of blood. "Any last words?"_

_Her mother was going to be broken when the police would come to her door later. Her friends at school, what would they do? What came after death?_

_Luckily, Melinda never found out that day._

_A foot came out of nowhere and kicked the gun out of Mohawk's hand. Before he could open his mouth, a figure knocked him to the ground where he cried out in pain. Melinda stayed pressed against the wall as a woman wearing a matching skirt and jacket pressed her high heel against the bully's chest. Her face was stern and filled with fury._

"_These aren't toys," she hissed, waving the gun in front of him. "They don't belong in the hands of people like you."_

_Mohawk whimpered, all his bravado gone._

"_What's more, we don't ever speak to women like that, do we now?" The woman asked, all sugary sweet. Melinda caught a trace of an accent in her voice. _

_Mohawk shook his head._

"_So apologize to this young woman." _

_Mohawk looked at her. "Sorry." He said meekly._

_The woman picked her heel off of his chest. "Now run off and clean yourself up. Never do something like this again. Because if you do, then I will find you, and I shall make sure that you live to regret my warning."_

_The bully nodded and run off. Melinda swallowed nervously as the woman bent down next to her. "Lean forward," she said in a soothing tone. _

_Melinda obeyed, although her shoulder didn't want to. She gave a yelp as another burst of pain hit the afflicted area, but the intense pain had been replaced by a dull, sore ache. "Thanks," she said timidly, looking up at the woman. She looked a little older than her mother, and grey streaked parts of her brown hair. Still, there was an I-don't-take-shit-from-people air about her. Melinda liked that kind of attitude since she had the same views._

"_Better?"_

_British, she was definitely British. Melinda could hear it now. "Yeah, thanks"_

"_Not a problem," The woman smiled and helped her up. "What's your name?"_

"_Melinda, Melinda May." She gave her full name because she trusted this lady who had saved her life. "How-how much did you see?"_

_The woman shrugged. "Everything, and I must say I am impressed with the way you handled it." She cocked her head at the teenager. "Why did you do it though?"_

_Melinda shrugged. "Honestly, I hate seeing someone pick on another person who has done nothing wrong. I don't like bullies, especially when they do it for fun."_

_A bittersweet smile crossed over the lady's face, as though she was remembering something good and sad at the same time. "You wouldn't happen to be the daughter of Deputy Director May of the CIA, would you?"_

"_Maybe," Melinda said timidly, and then thought of something. "Should I be worried?"_

_The lady laughed. "No. Now come with me, I'll give you a ride to the headquarters. There's a meeting there I need to attend anyway."_

"_But…who are you?" Melinda said as they walked over to a black sedan. "I'd like to know that much first."_

"_Carter, Margaret Carter," she said as they got inside. "But just call me Peggy."_

* * *

"Nice to pull it out in the end, Mel," Tori hugged as soon as they left the building. "I knew you could do it."

Melinda looked over at Linda, who was scowling at Tori. "You okay, Lind?"

Linda's mouth went tight. Clearly, something had happened that angered the mild-mannered girl. It involved Tori too, which could be a problem for everyone. The brunette had a tendency to get into trouble. "I'm fine."

"Ugh," Tori sighed as they walked around another lamppost. "Seriously, are you still mad about it? It's not a big deal!"

"Bullshit, Tori! It's a pretty big deal!" Linda snapped, then covered her mouth.

Melinda looked at the two girls. "Did I miss something?"

Linda rolled her eyes. "Only that our roommate has been carrying around fireworks in her bag to all these meetings. I found this out tonight when I tried to shove in the water gun."

"Okay, hold up," Tori made a time-out sign. "First off, they are_ firecrackers_, not fireworks. Plus, there are more stink-bombs and smoke-bombs in there than firecrackers. And some weird thing called an EMP that I got from a Sci-Tech guy in swap. I don't know what it does exactly, but I think it blows stuff up. It's gotta be good. I mean, I swapped a couple Springsteen tracks for it."

"Why do you even have that stuff?" Melinda furrowed her brow and tried to restrain herself from shouting.

Tori shrank down a little as Melinda and Linda glared at her. "Pranks? Quick getaways?" she supplied.

"Unbelievable!" Linda cried. "How stupid can you get…"

Another noise that belonged to none of the girls hit Melinda's ears. "Uh, guys."

"…Stupid, stupid, stupid! I can't believe you…"

"Linda, shut up!" Melinda strained to hear. The second noise sounded like…voices?

"Melinda, no. Tori could have endangered us-mfph!"

Tori clapped her hand over Linda's mouth. The two bickering girls' eyes widened when they heard the voices drawing closer. The voices were drawing nearer, and they didn't sound like people she knew from the Underground. Melinda looked about frantically, and noticed the little wooded area by their pathway. She pointed at the bushes, and the girls ran off the sidewalk to hide behind them.

As they saw the beam of a flashlight glow in the distance, they all froze with fear. Had they been made?

**To Be Continued….**

**Um, please review. They make me feel better about writing, and reassure me that there are people out there who want to read this.**


	6. Chapter 6

**K, so I'm listening to the theme of the show, and I'm feeling pretty pumped up right now, since two and a half of the five updates I've planned are done and I've had this ready ever since I left you guys with that (cruddy) cliffhanger. I would like to apologize for giving you guys those last two chapters that I'm feeling were awkward fillers, and hopefully this will make up for it.**

**I would like to give a long overdue thank you to all the people who are reading, following, favoriting, and reviewing as I trudge through these awkward filler chapters. This may sound repetitive and banal, but you have no idea how happy it makes me whenever I see a new review or favorite or follower. It reassures me that I'm doing a great job, and that people actually have interest in my writing, even if it's crappy.**

**Now to resolve my horrible cliffhanger.**

**[FYI-There are a couple references to Marvel in here and in other chapters. Let me know if you find them!]**

* * *

_**Previously in What happens at the Academy…**_

"…_Stupid, stupid, stupid! I can't believe you…"_

"_Linda, shut up!" Melinda strained to hear. The second noise sounded like…voices?_

"_Melinda, no. Tori could have endangered us-mfph!"_

_Tori clapped her hand over Linda's mouth. The two bickering girls' eyes widened when they heard the voices drawing closer. The voices were drawing nearer, and they didn't sound like people she knew from the Underground. Melinda looked about frantically, and noticed the little wooded area by their pathway. She pointed at the bushes, and the girls ran off the sidewalk to hide behind them. _

_As they saw the beam of a flashlight glow in the distance, they all froze with fear. Had they been made?_

Chapter 6: Never mess with the mural

Tori Hand crouched down low enough behind the bush so she could still see over the top of it. Her heart was hammering in her chest, and she tried not to panic. Melinda was lying on top of her right boot, pressed against the ground. Linda, who was also on the ground, winced suddenly and clapped her hands over her mouth.

"_Pleasepleasepleasedon'tletusgetbusted,"_ thought Tori as the voices drew nearer. She could hear them better now that Linda wasn't yelling at her. It had been an overreaction in Tori's opinion. Back home, she and her friends had had a penchant for mischief, and firecrackers had been a common thing for her to carry around in her backpack. They'd gotten a little risky a few times, including one incident involving a peek at test grades and Mr. Lumboli's desk drawer, but most of the time things were fine. That and the local fire department always knew how to do their job.

"-wish we could be there to see their reactions when they see what we do to that mural in Dugan Hall." A voice sneered as two figures became visible in the lamplight. "They won't know what hit 'em."

The voice sounded familiar, but Tori couldn't remember where she'd heard it. It definitely wasn't anyone from Operations though.

"It'll show them to call us a bunch of Science Oompa Loompas," the taller of the two responded, and Tori felt her heart freeze. They were seniors, and they were from Sci-Tech! It couldn't be them! "Can't believe that's what they make us out to be to their freshmen. I mean, how much more childish can Operations people get?"

"I don't know, that might set a record," the first one laughed. "Maybe they don't have the brain capacity to think of insults that are actually clever. But this is going to be the best ever. You have all the supplies right?"

"Yeah, but let's get moving. Operations people might not be the smartest, but I still don't want to hang around here for long."

The two students from the rival campus walked off, muttering something about trying to find Dugan Hall. Tori allowed herself a small smile knowing they were taking the wrong path, but she knew they would correct their mistake soon enough.

Linda pushed herself up once they were gone. Her face was grim. "What idiot called hem Oompa Loompas?!" she hissed at Melinda and Tori. "Honestly, I could even think of twenty better things to say than that!"

Tori felt her face flush. She really could have done better. "About that…"

Melinda and Tori looked at her with matching expressions of disbelief. "Oh no no no, Tori," Linda was shaking her head. "Please tell me you didn't."

"I did." Tori admitted, feeling embarrassed.

"Why would you say that?" Melinda asked. "When did this happen?"

Tori sighed. "Two weeks ago, I was in town and I heard a couple of people who might have been seniors making cracks about Operations being cavemen because of something stupid that dumbass Ramirez did, and-and I just snapped! I just went on a rant and said a couple things like Oompa Loompas and lab monkeys because I wasn't thinking straight! I didn't know they were seniors until later. Half those kids at Sci-Tech are barely in their twenties."

"That mural in Dugan Hall…" Linda thought aloud. "Wait, that's the one of Captain America and the Howling Commandos marching into some camp."

"That's the one Phil's trying to sketch!" Melinda cried. Tori raised her eyebrow at her friend. "He-he showed me a couple times," the Chinese girl confessed bashfully. "It's actually pretty good. But we can't let them do anything to it. We have to do something!"

"Like what?" Linda snapped. "Melinda, we're just three freshmen. What are we going to do?"

Melinda's smile in the pale moonlight was downright wicked. "We prank them before they can get their dirty work done."

"That is an idea I can get behind," Tori grinned and shrugged the pack off her shoulders. "Take your pick."

"No, guys, this is a really bad idea," Linda protested. "We could get into trouble!"

Tori sighed. "Linda," she began, looking at the reluctant girl. "Do you really want to let that beautiful mural in Dugan Hall that shows the triumphant return of our friend's boyhood hero and the Howling Commandos get trashed in some way by two lab monkeys?"

Linda sighed and smiled. "I'm in. But I need to teach you better insults, Tori. What are you asking me to do?"

"Go ahead toward Dugan Hall with this stuff…" Melinda began, pulling out some things from Tori's bag of tricks.

* * *

The two Sci-Tech students stood before the mural in the main atrium of Dugan Hall. Each held a can of shaving cream in their hand. The security cameras around the area had been reprogramed to play the same image for twenty minutes. Plenty of time for them to get in and out of the Operations campus.

The taller of the two approached the mural. _"Time for a lather, Dernier,"_ he thought as his hand holding the can moved closer to the painted face of the French Commando.

There was a sudden zap, and the lights illuminating the painting went out.

"Uh, Willis?" His companion asked meekly. "What was that?"

"Oh, really Eddy?" Willis turned around to face his companion. "Thank you! I had no idea!"

"You know," Eddy flicked on this penlight. "They do say that Barnes's spirit like to haunt the Ops academies."

Willis rolled his eyes. For all his brains, Eddy could be a superstitious fool sometimes. "That's just a stupid story. Besides, Barnes kicked it overseas. Wouldn't he haunt some place over there."

"They've got some Howling Commando stuff in the administration wing," Eddy continued. "What if it belonged to him?"

"Damn it, Eddy…" Willis's voice trailed off as smoke appeared in the light of the penlight. "What the hell…"

Looking around him, he could see smoke forming all around them in the light that came in through the windows. An odd dragging noise sounded nearby. "Hello?"

The dragging noise was now accompanied by squeaking. It sounded like….like a rail car!

"Eddy, maybe we should-"

But a lone can of shaving cream marked where his friend had been standing. The person who had been holding it was now running out toward the doors. Willis swallowed and followed after him. He knew that ghost probably didn't exist, but with all the stuff they did at Sci-Tech, maybe they had contacted another side. If he had, he didn't want to stick around and find out.

* * *

Once both of the would-be pranksters had exited, Linda stopped rubbing her sneakers and stood up. Ugh, that floor was disgusting.

Making her way down the staircase above the mural, she picked up the still-full can of shaving cream and the empty shells of the smoke bombs. Linda grinned. She had to hand it to Tori, the girl knew her stuff.

"So that's what it does," she murmured aloud as she pulled out the device called the EMP that had shut out the lights.

When she exited the building, she heard a series of pops, followed by screaming.

* * *

Melinda clutched her chest as she leaned against the side of the building, laughing. It had been so long since she had pulled a good prank, and she felt giddy. Tori was worse. The brunette was rolling on the ground, howling and crying.

After the two Sci-Tech idiots had left Dugan Hall in a panic (one of them was screaming some crap about the ghost of Bucky Barnes), Tori had deployed another smoke bomb, and a stink bomb too for fun. The two were already panicking, and couldn't find each other in the smoke. It was then that Tori darted out to stick a string of firecrackers in their back pockets, while she had followed close behind with a lighter. The poor boys had run right off the campus grounds, screaming in fright. Melinda had been lucky enough to snap a blurry photo of them as they passed under a lamplight.

'Sounds like you guys did well," Linda commented as she came up beside them. There was a cheeky smile on her face. Melinda had never seen her like that before. Usually Linda stuck to the rules like glue, while she and Tori were more inclined to be lax with them. "what did you do to them?"

"You…you first," wheezed Tori, climbing to her feet. "Oh God, that was fun."

Linda smiled and ducked her head. "I might have convinced them that the ghost of Bucky Barnes was making sure they couldn't go through with their plan."

Melinda sniggered. "That's why the smaller one was saying that he respected and loved all the Howling Commandos."

"Did he really?"

"Mm-hm." Melinda nodded. "Tori set off a smoke and stink bomb when they came over here."

"And then…"

Tori giggled. "We put firecrackers in their pants."

A moment of silence passed through the trio before they burst into unruly laughter. Above them, a window squeaked.

"Hey shut up down there!" a groggy, half-awake voice called. "Some people actually want to gets some sleep!"

"For the love of God." Another voice, slightly quieter, but still audible, carried down to the now quiet girls. "Stop being an old man and shut the window, Phil!"

The window slammed shut after some muttered words. After it closed, the girls erupted into quieter giggling. Once they heard John, they knew who the first voice had been, and they couldn't stop laughing.

"He would be sooooo angry if we knew it was us," Linda chuckled as they calmed down.

"I don't know," Melinda said as she linked arms with Tori and Linda. "If he knew we stopped two Sci-Tech monkeys from trashing that mural he's re-drawing, then I don't think he'd be so mad."

"But we're not telling anyone, right?" Tori asked, but one look at her shadowed face told Melinda she already knew the answer.

"No one!" Melinda shook her head with a laugh, and the three friends skipped back to their dormitory. They had just completed their first ever together, and it had been successful and fun. Melinda knew in her pranking legacy would continue at the Academy, and she had the best two assistants she could ask for to help her.

* * *

**I couldn't resist adding a little bit of Phil in there for you guys. Hope you liked it!**

**I have the personality of Linda, and the insulting power of Tori. If you guys have any ideas for pranks for anyone to pull, let me know in a review or PM.**

**Also, thanks to LADYLUCK523 for sending me some prompts. I'd still love some more ideas for after Halloween, because I need some.**

**Next Chapter: Halloween! Leaf piles, confidence issues, and people beginning to take notice of Phil and Melinda.**

**Please leave a review behind! They motivate me to write more for this.**


	7. Chapter 7

**What up y'all! I've been eager to do this chapter for oh so long, but decided I needed a build-up to it first. Unfortunately, that meant a lot of what I thought were pretty cruddy filler chapters. If you felt the same way, then I apologize. But anyway, thanks to all those who suggested ideas for costumes, and if you ever have any prompts, feel free to hit me up in a review or PM.**

**It took a while to research some of this stuff, especially the song. I know next to nothing about music in the eighties (because I am not a fan of it), so finding a good romantic song as hard. So I hope it all turned out well.**

**I finally got to see Guardians of the Galaxy. It. Was. AWESOME! I seriously recommend going to see it if you haven't. **

**Oh, and I finally give you guys some Philinda to scream and bang your heads at.**

* * *

Chapter 7: Halloween

"So remind me again what you're going as," Linda asked Tori as the brunette looked at the makeup aisle in the drugstore. Along with Melinda, the two had gone into town to get supplies for their Halloween costumes. The 'big-shots', as Tori called the campus board, had graciously allowed the student body to hold a Halloween party on the Saturday closest to Halloween. Costumes were permitted, so now they were running about town to collect the things they would need for their costumes.

Tori tossed a tube of mascara into her basket. "Sort if a rocker punk hybrid," she admitted while comparing two tubes of bright red lipstick.

"Your Halloween costume, Tori," teased Linda as she gestured to the girl's combat boots and army jacket.

"Ha ha, you're cute," Tori rolled her eyes, making her choice with the lipstick. "What about you?"

Linda pursed her lips and looked down. "I don't know. I think I'm probably going to do something at the last minute and go with that."

"What! No, absolutely not!" Tori whirled around to face Linda. "You can't do last minute. Last minute is getting a sheet, cutting holes in it, and pretending to be a ghost. You are better than that. Melinda, tell Linda she's better than that."

"You're better than that, Linda," Melinda, who had just come up to them with her own basket, told her. "Wait, what is she better than?"

"Last minute Halloween costumes."

"Oh, yeah," Melinda nodded. "Tori, you wanted the red, right?"

"Yes, and thank you," Tori took the small box that Malinda gave to her. "You know who you're going as, Melinda?"

"Princess Leia," she admitted, blushing a little. She had loved the Star Wars movies, and made sure she had hit the theatres on opening night when the last one came out.

Tori nodded with approval. "So what do you think the guys are doing?"

Linda sniggered. "Well, John and Felix are wild cards," she began. "But I think we all know who Phil is going to go as…"

* * *

"I'm not,"

Two armfuls of leaves fluttered down as John and Felix stared at him in astonishment. Phil shifted uncomfortably and dropped his own armful in to the pile they'd collected so far. October and the coming of winter had brought out a bit of the child in all of them, so they had been collecting leaves from all over campus to create a large leaf pile in the back of their dormitory. Their pile had almost been ready for them to jump into when Felix asked him if he was going to dress up as Captain America for Halloween.

"Huh?" Felix stared at him with puzzlement. "Could you repeat that again?"

"I said I'm not going to dress up as Captain America for Halloween this year," repeated Phil.

There was a long pause.

"Who are you and what have you done with Phil Coulson!" John cried out in mock horror and tossed his recently collected armful of leaves at him.

Phil chuckled as he dodged the debris that had been flung at him. "You're hilarious, John," he deadpanned. "I just feel like doing something different this year. It'll surprise people."

"And what do you mean by different?" Felix asked, picking up a long stick and twirling in around in front of him.

The questioned boy shrugged. Phil hadn't really thought it through beyond one thing. "I'm not sure, but it's probably going to be something from Star Wars."

John grinned at him. They both remembered the time that they'd snuck off to a drive-in once to see _The Empire Strikes Back_. Fury had not been too pleased when he found out, and yelled at them for a long time. But it had been worth it.

"So who exactly are you going be to from Star Wars?" Felix narrowly avoided hitting himself in the eye with his stick before tossing it into the bushes.

John clapped his hands together. "Darth Vader. Phil, you can go up behind people at the party and say 'No, **I** am your father'."

Phil shook his head while laughing at John's impression of the villain. "That's pretty good, actually," he admitted as John bowed. "But I'm not planning on being a Sith Lord. You can if you want. Or you could actually be Chewbacca. Now that I could see."

"Grrrwaaaaaarggggh!" John roared, leaping forward and tackling Phil into their pile of leaves. Felix began to snigger, until John reached out and grabbed his leg. He yanked him into the pile where the three kept laughing.

There was the sound of a camera, and they looked up.

"And here we have three male SHIELDium cadetisous," Tori drawled in a terrible British accent while Melinda and Linda snickered, the former holding a camera.

"They have a tendency to embark on interesting whims and adventures," continued Tori. "However, they often forget to include others in their exciting escapades."

Felix gave Phil a knowing look, and they sputtered into laughter. Melinda looked at him with a little smirk, and Phil realized there were an abundance of leaves scattered in his hair. Blushing red, he stood up, brushing off all the bits of leaves covering him. Only he could get even more klutzy around Melinda.

"So why didn't you tell us this was going on?" Linda asked the three, who by now had all gotten out of the leaf pile.

John shrugged. "Well, we tried to find you, but we couldn't," he told them, looking at their bags. "But I think I can guess where you went. Did you get me anything?"

Tori laughed. "Unless you want a hell of a lot of dark make-up, you're out of luck. It's stuff for Halloween costumes."

"For the party right?" Felix looked at Melinda, who nodded. "You know what you're going as?"

The three girls looked at each other and giggled. "It's a surprise," Melinda said coyly.

"You want a surprise?" John grinned. "Phil's not going as Cap."

"Is he feeling alright?" Tori asked looking over at him.

Phil sighed, rolling his eyes. "Can a guy _not_ go as something different for once without judgement?"

"So who are you going to be?" Melinda asked kindly. Phil bit his lip, holding back the temptation to tell her who he was really planning to go as. He could be a little vague at least.

"Something from Star Wars," he replied, shaking his head. An idea formed in the back of his mind. Phil looked over at John and smirked. "And John's possibly going as a Wookie. He can do the roar pretty well, actually. You want to show them?"

John caught his drift perfectly. Without hesitating, he dove at the girls, wailing, and tackled all three of them into the pile of leaves. Felix and Phil jumped in right behind them. The six ended up being a tangle of bodies, all laughing happily.

* * *

Tori applied the coat of red lipstick and stood back to admire her reflection in the mirror. She had on a pair of acid-splashed jeans, a white t-shirt, and a black leather jacket. The red dye she'd streaked in her hair matched the lipstick and her Doc Martins perfectly. Throw in a couple spiked cuffs and some dark eyeshadow, and she looked pretty badass. "How do I look?" she asked, turning to Linda.

Linda lifted her head up. She was wearing a short, beaded lavender dress that actually looked straight vintage from the twenties with silver heels. Her hair was bunned, and a beautiful, elaborate necklace they'd found in the thrift shop in town was around her neck. She gave Tori a weak smile. "You look good," she whispered before ducking her head again.

Tori frowned and walked over to where Linda was sitting on her bed. "What's wrong?" she asked her friend, plopping down on the bed beside her. Tori had never seen Linda so down before.

Linda sighed. "I look bad," she confessed, drawing her legs up onto the bed. "I don't feel pretty. Everyone else is going to have a better costume than me, and it makes me feel like I'm just going to be wasting my time when I go."

Tori looked at her and shook her head. "Linda Avery," she began. "You look beautiful. You look classic. You are going to have a great time. People are going to love your costume, and everything will be fine. But if they try to give you shit about yourself, then you come find me. Because I swear I will kick their asses into next week, and I know of at least four other people who will help me do it."

Linda snorted and giggled. Tori smiled, feeling glad she had helped cheer her up. "Seriously though, ignore whatever crap the bastards try to make you think, because you are ten times better than them."

"Thanks Tori," Linda smiled and hugged her friend.

Tori returned the hug. "And then you know to sass them and come get me right?"

Linda snorted again. "Gotcha."

"Hey, Tori? Linda?"

Melinda came into the room. She wore a white dress with Tori's water gun (emptied) that had been painted black strapped to her side. Her hair was pulled back into the signature two buns. A shy smile was on her face. "Are you guys ready to go?"

"Wow, Melinda," Linda nodded in approval. "You look really good. Wayyy better than Carrie Fisher. They should have gotten you to be in the movies."

Melinda giggled and twirled around. "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope," she mimicked. "Now let's go. The guys are probably waiting for us."

Linda nodded, and the three filled out of their room, down the stairs, and outside to where Phil, John, and Felix were waiting. As soon as they caught sight of Phil, Tori and Linda stopped and grinned at the now bright red Melinda.

"Oh, you are so walking with him to the party," Linda whispered, pushing her forward as Tori snickered in the background.

* * *

"So you're absolutely, one hundred percent, totally positive that you two did not plan ahead of time to dress up as Princess Leia and Han Solo, and the universe just magically made it happen. Is that right?" Tori asked for the tenth time as they walked up to the front doors of Dugan Hall.

"Yes!" Phil and Melinda sighed in exasperation at Tori. John, who was dressed as Indiana Jones, snickered.

"So something magical just happened in the universe then, and everything is entirely coincidental."

Both nodded. Phil ducked his head, blushing. He had no idea that Melinda was going to be going as Princess Leia. It was a little bit funny that the girl he was in love with was dressed up as the person who the character he dressed up as was in love with. Life could be hilarious like that.

Melinda looked down, avoiding the eyes of her friends. It always felt like the universe did all it could in its power to set her up to tell Phil that she liked him, but she never could go through with it. Every failed opportunity hurt like a punch to the gut. She could practically hear her mother right now, scoffing at how childish she was being about all this.

Behind them, Linda turned to Felix, who was dressed up as Julius Caesar. "I'm not buying it entirely," she whispered to him. "What do you think?"

Felix shrugged. "I don't really care," he muttered. He actually did though, because it hurt him so much.

* * *

The six walked down the marked hall to the ballroom, where the party was being held. The walls were decorated with fake cobwebs and plastic skeletons and spiders. Ahead, they could see flashing lights and hear the steady thump of music. Standing at the doorway to the party was a guy dressed up like Abraham Lincoln, who was holding a camera.

"Pictures?" he asked the group, raising the camera. "A buck each. Money's going toward a fund to prank Sci-Tech."

Each one of them coughed up a dollar, and got together so Lincoln could take six photos. As he snapped the last one, Melinda turned toward Phil. "You want one of us?" she asked shyly. "Cause…you know."

Phil grinned at her. "I'm good with it," he told her, then turned to Lincoln. "Can we get some of us?"

Lincoln nodded, and they each paid another dollar to him. Melinda smiled at him. Tori noticed, and flicked her eyes over to Phil, who was returning it. The two posed back to back, holding their prop guns up.

"Ya know," the guy told them as he took the second photo. "You don't get a lot of couples at the Academy, much less ones who have costumes like that."

"What?!" The two separated, turning red.

"We're not a couple," they cried at the same time. Tori looked over at Linda and smirked. The other girl rolled her eyes.

"She's just a friend-" Phil said.

"We're only friends-" Melinda added unnecessarily.

"It's totally-" Phil began, and Melinda finished. "-coincidential."

Melinda didn't know if her face could get anymore red. "I-I mean, you and me.."

Phil felt something inside him deflate. "It'd-That's just be crazy, right?"

Melinda nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat. "Yeah," she said softly. "Crazy."

An awkward silence descended over the group.

"Allllllrighty," Linda chuckled a little, pushing the two along. "Let's just move on, go in, and have some fun!"

"That's the spirit!" Tori cheered, bounding ahead.

* * *

"Hey."

Phil tore his gaze away from the window to see Melinda coming up beside him. Despite the awkward circumstances that had occurred earlier, he still smiled at her. "Hi."

She tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "Good party," she said, feeling a bit awkward."

"Yep."

Silence.

Phil took a deep breath. "Doyouwanttodance?" he blurted out.

Melinda blinked. "Huh?" _Did he just say what I thought he said?_

"Ah, do you want to…to dance. With me. Out there?" Phil pointed to the dance floor sheepishly, feeling very warm all of the sudden.

To his relief, Melinda smiled. "Yes."

He held his hand out to her, and she placed hers in it. He tried to ignore the fact that her hand felt small and cool and actually fit pretty well in his as they walked out the dance floor. _Burning Down The House_ was just finishing up.

"Okay folks," a guy dressed up as a vampire announced. "We're gonna put on a good one now for those of us who've got someone we care a lot about. So if you've got a date, then now's the time to bring 'em out here."

Journey's _Faithfully_ began to play from the speakers. Some people began to leave the area, but there were still enough people around. Phil looked over at Melinda. "Do you still want to-"

"Yes," she said immediately. "If-if you still want to though."

He smiled and gave a small chuckle.

_Highway run_

_Into the midnight sun_

_Wheels go round and round_

_You're on my mind_

_Restless hearts_

_Sleep alone tonight_

_Sending all my love_

_Along the wire_

_They say that the road_

_Ain't no place to start a family_

_Right down the line_

_It's been you and me_

_And lovin' a music man_

_Ain't always what it's supposed to be_

_Oh, girl, you stand by me_

_I'm forever yours_

_Faithfully_

Melinda felt so alive. Every note felt like warmth was spreading through her body. Her arms came up and wrapped around Phil's neck. She closed her eyes, and the rest of the world fell away. All there was right now was the music, and Phil.

_Circus life_

_Under the big top world_

_We all need the clowns_

_To make us smile_

_Through space and time_

_Always another show_

_Wondering where I am_

_Lost without you_

_And being apart_

_Ain't easy on this love affair_

_Two strangers learn to fall in love again_

_I get the joy of rediscovering you_

_Oh, girl, you stand by me_

_I'm forever yours_

_Faithfully_

Phil's hands weren't shaking as they settled on Melinda's waist. Every word of the song resonated deep within his soul. The night, which he'd been a little nervous about since the whole situation with the Lincoln photographer, now felt so perfect, so right. Phil closed his eyes and smiled. He was dancing with his friend, who he liked a bit more than just a friend, to a song that felt so utterly amazing.

_Whooa, oh-oh-ooh_

_Whooa, oh-oh-ooh, oh_

_Whooa, oh-oh-oh, oh-whoooooa-oh_

_Faithfully_

_I'm still yours_

_I'm forever yours_

_Ever yours_

_Faithfully_

The final notes died away, and were replaced by the opening beat to AC/DC's _Back in Black_. Melinda opened her eyes, and realized that her and Phil's foreheads were very, very close together. She felt all the confidence drain out of her. During the song, she'd wanted to tell him. But now that confidence was gone. "Oh."

Phil opened his eyes, and both backed up from each other.

"So….that happened," Phil meekly rubbed the back of his neck.

"Uh-huh," Melinda replied.

They were silent for a moment, and then spoke at the same time. "I'm going to go the-"

They stopped, and Melinda laughed. Phil didn't think he'd heard anything more beautiful.

"I'm going to the-the-the-," he struggled to remember what he was saying. "The can. I mean, the bathroom. It's called a bathroom. Sorry, John rubs off on me sometimes."

She nodded. "I'm going to get a drink. See you later?"

"Yeah, see you." Phil stumbled off the bathroom.

John was just leaving the restroom when Phil walked up and sort of fell into a leaning position against the door. "You okay, Phil?" he asked, feeling a little concerned for his best friend.

Phil looked up at him. Joh noticed he looked a bit pale and shaken. 'I just told Melinda I was going to go use the can," he moaned miserably.

John snorted and patted him on the shoulder. "Take a few breathes, and then go back and join the fun," he advised. No matter how hard he tried, Phil could not hide his painfully obvious crush on Melinda from him. He couldn't hid it from anyone really, except Melinda, who didn't notice because half the time she was making lovey dovey eyes at Phil too.

* * *

Felix was leaning against the wall on the outside of Dugan Hall, hands on top his head and teeth gritted.

Love was a bitch.

* * *

"Oh my God!" squealed Tori. "Linda, did you see them! Didn't I tell you!"

"Oh my god," Linda gaped as Tori grinned broadly at her. "I think I believe you now."

Tori's glasses flashed light from disco ball above them as she did a little happy dance. "They are soooooooo in love," she gushed.

"Whose in love?" John came up next them. "Did I miss something?"

"Yes!" Tori was now bouncing up and down.

"It's nothing." Linda said. "Calm down Tori."

"I will not," the brunette retorted. "It's Phil and Melinda, John. You missed them out on the dance floor, and they were dancing to _Faithfully_. It was beautiful, but they both got really nervous in the end and Phil ran off to the bathroom."

"Oh yeah," John chuckled. "I just saw Phil. Apparently, he said he needed to use 'the can' to her, and now he's trying not to have a panic attack about it."

Linda and Tori snickered. It sounded exactly like Phil.

"I'm telling you, Linda," Tori said. "The universe is practically setting them up together. First they got each other's schedules, then there was the assignment with the interrogation techniques, and now tonight, they've Han and Leia and they've danced together and…God they just need to tell each other that they love each other!" Tori clenched her fist and shook them. "It's driving me nuts!"

"You know," John mused. "We could help them figure it out."

"Whoa, wait a second." Linda held up her hands in a time-out position. "Are you suggesting that we set them up?"

John cocked an eyebrow. "I might."

Tori shook her head, grinning. "You are an evil genius, John Garrett."

"Oh, I know it." He winked and took a sip of his punch. "Does it sound like an idea?"

Tori rolled her eyes. 'I'll tell you this, you don't have the best ideas, John. But this one," she giggled. "I love it. I'm in. Linda?"

The two turned their attention to the other girl, waiting for her response.

Linda sighed and nodded. "Yes," she admitted. "You are the worst influence ever, Tori."

"I aim to please," Tori smirked. "So I think this should be us, because Felix is kind of crushing on her and she doesn't like him in that way. Plus, I don't want to risk a saboteur."

"Agreed," John said. "How are we going to do this though?"

Tori smiled at her two accomplices. "Well, first we'll need something that will provide us leverage over one of them. So for the meantime, we just wait, and we see what the universe provides us with."

* * *

**So we've got Tori, John, and Linda all plotting now to set up Phil and Melinda. *evil laughter* If you have any ideas of how they can work to set them up, let me know via Pm or review.**

**I really want to give Felix a hug now. As I re-read this, I feel so sorry for him. *whispers* "Let's all hug Felix."**

**Cookies for the people who can tell me where I got Back in Black from. And where I got Dugan Hall from.**

**Please leave a review behind and tell me what you think!**


	8. Chapter 8

**This is an awkward filler chapter, but I promise some action soon. But in the meantime, would everyone be so kind to mentally picture a little troll sitting on a fairy and beat the troll with a stick. The troll is the imp who gives me writer's block. I haven't named him yet, despite his long stays. I'm thinking Barry though…**

**I guess with the Philinda feels that might come from this chapter, I think I'm trying to channel a bit of FitzSimmons into them. I kind of feel that when they were the FitzSimmons of Operations. **

**Oh- so you know how in the last chapter, I gave you all a lovely image of Philinda dressed up as Leia and Han dancing to Journey's 'Faithfully'? Well, I walked into a shop the other day, and that song was playing over the radio. It took me a few moments of 'where have I heard that before?' until I remembered this, and then I had to fangirl internally since I was in public. **

**Anyway, enough of my rambling, it's not why you're here.**

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Chapter 8: Letters Home

_Dear Mom,_

_It's not easy to find time to write home as much as I would like to with all the classes and training I have to go through. But right now I've got some time, and I figured that I would write to you and tell you how everything is going. I can't go into too much detail because the people here tend to check the incoming and outgoing mail for anything that could leak secrets. Hopefully, this won't get censored._

_I can't tell you too much about my classes, or what they're about (again, censorship), but I am doing pretty well in them. I'm not at the top, but I'm not the worst. Just average, like I usually am. I told John this once. He rolled his eyes at me and told me to stop selling myself short at once. Okay, I had to clean it up a bit, but that was the main point of it. He says hi by the way, and hopes you're doing well._

_I'm actually rooming with John, and there's another guy too. His name is Felix Blake. I think that you would like him a lot, Mom. He's kind of quiet, but he's really interesting. He's gotten me into reading a lot of great books. Plus, he knows some pretty good jokes that would make cranky old Mr. Lloyd crack a grin. The three of us get along really well, aside from the occasional incident. But that only happens once in a while, and most of the time, it's because one of us is being an idiot. (Usually, it's John)_

_The three of us are all friends with three other girls. They're also all roommates, and freshmen like us. Or freshwoman. Why do they call it freshmen when there are both boys and girls? It doesn't make sense._

_Anyway, back to the girls. First, there's Linda Avery. She kind of reminds me of Jody Granger, that girl who dared me to climb that tree when I was nine and fell out and broke my arm. Well, just picture Jody with darker skin and a braid and that's Linda. She's kind of shy, like me and Felix, but is pretty nice. She's probably the most hesitant of the three, since she's a big stickler for the rules. It's fine and everything, but I wish sometimes that she would just let herself relax and break a rule, hide something for once._

_Victoria Hand is one of the other girls in the trio, and the polar opposite of Linda. Tori (she likes to be called that because she hates it when people call her Vicky) doesn't like to be held back or underestimated by anyone, especially the upperclassmen. She isn't afraid to say so either. You could say that she is sort of like a female John, except less cocky and she doesn't leave socks on people's faces. At least I don't think she does. Anyway, Tori's really creative and funny. She and Melinda like to goof off and do these dumb impersonations of the teachers that are actually kind of funny. I know it sounds mean, but even you would laugh if you saw them._

_Melinda May (the same one mentioned above) is the last of the three girls. Of the three, Melinda is the mix. She has Tori's exuberance and penchant for mischief, but can be as shy and quiet as Linda. She's probably one of the top students here, and a lot of people look up to her. _

_Melinda is also the first one I met of the three girls. On the day we arrived, Registration gave me her schedule, which I realized after I got to my room. I was running back to return it, and ended up bumping into her! I might have rambled a little bit to her, but she was nice and didn't say anything. Turns out she had my schedule, so we just switched and everything worked out._

_I think out of everyone here, including John, I feel closest to Melinda. She's always looking out for me, and I look out for her. I've heard John snicker a few times whenever we're working together for a long time and end up finishing each other's sentences. The universe does like to funny with us, especially during Halloween, when I dressed up as Han Solo and didn't even know she was going as Princess Leia until we met up with the girls. I think I kind of like her, but I don't think she feels the same way about me. She's been helping Felix a bit more than usual with stuff that he doesn't get in some of the classes they have together, and I think she likes him. I know he likes her, because he looks at her a lot._

_I hope everything's going alright at home. Has anything interesting decided to happen while I've been gone? How is Mrs. McLain doing? I knew that she had to get an operation, and I hope it went well. American History with her was such a great class. Plus, she liked Captain America lot too. _

_Anyway, I hope that you're doing well. I'll write again when I get the next chance._

_Phil_

_P.S. Is the rest of the neighborhood glad I'm gone so I'm not stealing the lids off their garbage cans?_

_P.P.S. I put in a photo of all of us from Halloween. You can probably tell who Felix is by eliminating me and John. Linda's the girl in the purple dress, Melinda is dressed like Princess Leia, and Tori is…well, I'm not entirely certain._

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**So poor Phil loves Melinda, but thinks that she loves Felix. Melinda, however, as we have seen so far, has something for Phil, but her thoughts on his feelings will be revealed soon. Then there's Felix, who loves Melinda. And somehow, I'm getting Skitz feels off this, and I do not know why. MUSE I DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR THOSE RIGHT NOW! LET ME WRITE THE PHILINDA THAT'S PROBABLY REALLY BAD.**

**Anyway, so there will probably be a Thanksgiving chapter coming up, thanks to the suggestion of LadyLuck523. I'm not sure what's going to happen, but I want someone to blow up a turkey. But if you have ideas for it, please drop them in a PM or review.**


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